Emerging evidence and experience to inform risk management in a warming world
Biodiversity and Health in the Face of Climate Change pp 47–66
This chapter reviews the emerging importance of pollen allergies in relation to ongoing climate change. Allergic diseases have been increasing in prevalence over the last decades, partly as the result of the impact of climate change. ...Increased sensitisation rates and more severe symptoms have been the partial outcome of: increased pollen production of wind-pollinated plants resulting in long-term increased abundance of pollen in the air we breathe; earlier shifts of airborne pollen seasons making occurrence of allergic symptoms harder to predict and deal with efficiently; increased allergenicity of pollen causing more severe health effects in allergic individuals; introduction of new, invasive allergenic plant species causing new sensitisations; environment-environment interactions, such as plants and hosted microorganisms, i.e. fungi and bacteria, which comprise a complex and dynamic system, with additive, presently unforeseeable influences on human health; environment-human interactions, as the consequence of a combination of environmental factors, like air pollution, global warming, urbanisation and microclimatic variability, which create a multi-resolution spatiotemporal system that requires new processing technologies and huge data inflow in order to be thoroughly investigated. We suggest that novel, real-time, personalised pollen information services, like mobile-app risk alerts, must be developed to provide the optimum first line of allergy management.
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Extreme heat events (EHEs) are a leading cause of weather-related injury and death in the United States, and under a changing climate, these meteorological episodes are predicted to increase in both frequency and intensity. Prolonged heat exposure from EHEs places an increased strain on the heart an...d may lead to heat-related illness if the cardiovascular system fails to properly thermoregulate internal body temperature. Every individual is susceptible to heat-related illness, however, those with reduced cardiovascular function and pre-existing cardiovascular diseases are at a greater risk for morbidity and mortality during EHEs. This document gives an overview of our current understanding of heat exposure and its impact on cardiovascular health outcomes, an overview of the medications that may exacerbate heat-related cardiovascular illness, and asummary of the interaction between extreme heat and air pollutants, and their collective impact on cardiovascular health. Additionally, this document summarizes epidemiologic evidence and identifies gaps in the extant peer-reviewed literature on the effectiveness of strategies and interventions to protect against heat-related cardiovascular disease and death. This information is intended to aid health departments and other health professionals in understanding and responding to the impacts of heat exposure on cardiovascular health.
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BackgroundClimate change is one of the great challenges of our time. The consequences of climate change on exposed biological subjects, as well as on vulnerable societies, are a concern for the entire scientific community. Rising temperatures, heat waves, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, fir...es, loss of forest, and glaciers, along with disappearance of rivers and desertification, can directly and indirectly cause human pathologies that are physical and mental.
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Laboratory Biossafety Manual
very woman has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to dignified, respectful health care.
Many women experience disrespectful and abusive treatment during childbirth in facilities worldwide. Such treatment not only violates the rights of women to respectf...ul care, but can also threaten their rights to life, health, bodily integrity, and freedom from discrimination. This statement calls for greater action, dialogue, research and advocacy on this important public health and human rights issue
Available in different langugages
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This recommendation is an update of one of the 49 recommendations that were published in the WHO recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience. The recommendation was developed initially using the standardized operating procedures described in the WHO handbook for guideline d...evelopment.
In summary, the process included: (i) identification of priority question and outcomes; (ii) retrieval of evidence; (iii) assessment and synthesis of the evidence; (iv) formulation of recommendation; and (v) planning for the implementation, dissemination, impact evaluation and updating of the recommendation. This recommendation was identified by the Executive Guideline Steering Group (GSG) as a high priority for updating in response to new evidence on this question.
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Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that usually affects the lungs, though it can affect any organ in the body. It can develop when bacteria spread through droplets in the air. TB can be fatal, but in many cases, TB is preventable and treatable. This report examines the human rights impact of... the prevalence of Tuberculosis (TB) and Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) among the Indigenous San peoples of Namibia. Combining political economy and root-cause methodology, the report explores the socioeconomic factors that make the San vulnerable to TB and limit their access to adequate health services.
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The Lancet Global Health Volume 9, ISSUE 3, e361-e365, March 01, 2021
The public health community has tried for decades to show, through evidence-based research, that safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and clean cooking fuels that reduce household air pollution are essential to safeguard he...alth and save lives in low-income and middle-income countries. In the past 40 decades, there have been many innovations in the development of low-cost and efficacious technologies for WASH and household air pollution, but many of these technologies have been associated with disappointing health outcomes, often because low-income households have either not adopted, or inconsistently adopted, these technologies.
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This open access book not only describes the challenges of climate disruption, but also presents solutions. The challenges described include air pollution, climate change, extreme weather, and related health impacts that range from heat stress, vector-borne diseases, food and water insecurity and ch...ronic diseases to malnutrition and mental well-being.
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The extensive use of natural resources threatens to exceed the carrying capacity of the Earth. The concept of a
circular economy offers an avenue to sustainable growth, good health and decent jobs, while saving the environment
and its natural resources. Further, the change from a linear economy (t...ake, make, dispose) to a circular economy (renew, remake, share) is expected to support significantly the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), particularly SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production.
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BMJ Global Health 2022;7:e008007. doi:10.1136/ bmjgh-2021-00800
It summarizes guidance on how to manage – and when to refer – children and adolescents presenting with common complaints and conditions. It includes information to enable primary health care providers to coordinate the continued care of children and adolescents with long-term conditions and dise...ases managed by specialists. Preventive and promotive measures from the newborn period to adolescence include advice on the timing and content of well-child visits, the promotion of early childhood development and health messages for adolescents.
This Pocket Book aims to improve the diagnosis and management of common conditions in children and adolescents that can be managed at the outpatient level. It helps to improve the use of laboratory and other diagnostic measures and the rational use of essential drugs and equipment.
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National-scale databases and reliability issue
Background report
Inferences through Machine Learning.Background Report.
What are the major origins and drivers of different types of conflict? Sorting out the main
causes of conflict and war is difficult and often shaped by ideological believes. Even today,
historians and political scientists have discussions on... the primary causes of the First World
War. There are several types of conflict, ranging from international and civil wars to local
conflicts, riots and revolution. And there are many theories that explain these different types
of conflict, which mostly focus on economic conditions and a range of factors that can foster
grievances and greed, creating incentives to initiate or join a conflict
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7 April 2022. Aimed at national policymakers, public health and healthcare planners, staff working in reception centres, and healthcare staff caring for displaced persons, the information note concludes that universal testing of incoming refugees from Ukraine for tuberculosis (TB) infection is not r...ecommended. Specific groups, such as household contacts of bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary cases, or those who are immunocompromised should however be considered for TB infection testing.
Available in Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovakian, Ukranian
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In 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) published the report Protecting health from climate change:vulnerability and adaptation assessment. The aim was to provide basic and flexible guidance on conducting national or subnational assessments of current and future vulnerability (the susceptibilit...y of a population or region to harm) to the health risks of climate change, and of policies and programmes that could increase resilience, taking into account the multiple determinants of climate-sensitive health outcomes.
That guidance has been a very useful tool, applied to more than 50 countries and settings, and has helped countries to prepare their health contributions to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change national adaptation plans.
Since the launch of the guidance, WHO, technical partners such as Health Canada, and countries have learned much in terms of its applicability in different countries, at national and local levels.
At the same time, knowledge on climate change and health has increased.
WHO, the Pan American Health Organization and Health Canada have produced this updated version, which aims to better support countries in their assessments by proposing a simpler tool that incorporates
all lessons learned.
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Supplement to: Guidance on vaccination and prevention of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks for countries hosting refugees from Ukraine, April 2022 update
This document provides: • information on how to obtain vaccination documentation remotely (intended for refugees from Ukraine and intern...ally displaced persons (IDPs) in Ukraine who lack documentation of vaccination status for themselves or their children); • information on the types of vaccination documentation issued in Ukraine, and English translations of standard documents (intended for health care providers in refugee-host countries to facilitate assessment of vaccination status of refugees).
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Project Drawdown (2022) provides evidence of how climate solutions can also be win-win opportunities for meeting development and human well-being needs while boosting prosperity for rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The report summarizes the co-benefits of five groups of a subs...et of Project Drawdown climate solutions (28 total solutions) for advancing human well-being in rural areas of low- and middle-income countries
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